Archive for November 2007

On the tube on the way home, I read this article in which the author suggests rewriting the Highway Code as a set of principles rather than as a rule book. He goes on to argue that working from principles would lead to more consistent judgements. This article resonated with me because establishing architectural principles and communicating them is so important to the success of establishing an architecture within the enterprise. It is much more valuable to communicate and agree the principles rather than try to enforce the decisions based on them. There’s a couple of good overviews of architectural principles here and here.

Microsoft released Visual Studio 2008 and version 3.5 of the .NET framework yesterday. I’ve been using the beta 2 of Orcas for a while now – and it’s very good. Read more details about the release here on Soma’s blog. I’d also recommend reading Scott Guthrie‘s post about the release, which includes detail of the new features.

The IASA have been developing a training programme for architects. You can find the details here. This programme is worth keeping an eye on – it looks like the broad syllabus will cover the range of skills that you require as an architect.